Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

The Phenom Blu-ray Movie Review

Not-So-Ordinary People

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 30, 2016

The recurring musical motif is from Mozart rather than Pachelbel, but The Phenom treads the same therapeutic ground as Robert Redford's 1980 Oscar winner, Ordinary People. Both films deal with a psychiatrist's timely intervention in the life of a young person in crisis, but writer/director Noah Buschel focuses on a pitching prodigy whose gifts are blocked by dysfunctional family relationships. Baseball aside (and The Phenom is only superficially a baseball film), the hotshot is just one more troubled kid.

Hopper Gibson (Johnny Simmons) is a naturally gifted pitcher snapped up by the major leagues immediately after high school, but a breakdown on the field has caused him to be sent down to the minors. His agent (Paul Adelstein) pairs him with renowned sport shrink Dr. Mobley (Paul Giamatti), who doesn't exactly get Hopper to open up, but in flashbacks we meet his abusive father (Ethan Hawke), who ruined his own pitching talent with alcohol and spends more time in jail than out.

There is nothing subtle or complex in Buschel's exploration of Hopper's troubled psyche. The reason for his blockage is evident even before his father appears, because both his high school coach (Yul Vazquez) and his English teacher (Elizabeth Marvel) speak about the problem. These speeches, like many others in The Phenom, are delivered in declamatory paragraphs that feel as deliberately composed as the fussy shots that Buschel holds for far too long. (We get it; Hopper is frozen, and so is the camera.) Only Hopper himself remains inarticulate, even when he and Dr. Mobley finally achieve what is supposed to be a breakthrough (if that's what it is; the film ends ambiguously). Giamatti, Hawke and a roster of talented New York theater actors labor to breathe life into this material, but they're trapped in a static creation where a random robbery and a thrown beer can are the closest we come to anything resembling effective drama.

The Phenom Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot on Red by Ryan Samul (Cold in July), The Phenom arrives from Image Entertainment on a 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray with a problematic image. Brightly lit scenes (or portions of scenes) display the usual virtues of digital capture: sharply detailed and noiseless, with solid blacks and bright primary colors typical of sports films. In darker scenes (or portions of the frame), the image too often displays the shifting patterns of digital color noise. These do not appear to be compression-related, since the average bitrate of 22.99 Mbps should be adequate for digitally originated material. Whether they are a byproduct of the original photography (or the DI) or a mastering issue, they're a distraction in a film that holds its shots at length.

The Phenom Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Phenom's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack has an odd mix. Some elements are overamplified (e.g., the Mozart sonata over the opening titles, where the volume gradually increases to an unpleasant level), while others are too quiet. The dialogue is sometimes buried by sound effects that have been heightened for effect (such as a siren), but this appears to be a deliberate choice by the filmmakers. The non-Mozart music was composed by Aleks de Carvalho.

The Phenom Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Cast of The Phenom (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:28): Simmons, Giamatti and Hawke.



• Still Galleries (1080p; 1.78:1): Production and behind-the-scenes photos.



• Introductory Trailers: Devil's Knot, Bone Tomahawk, Criminal Activities.

The Phenom Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The cast has impressive credentials, but The Phenom fails as both a sports film and a psychological drama. Anomalies in image and sound appear to result from directorial choices. Not recommended.